A Pakistani man hangs photos of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden taken by Pakistani photographer Mazhar Ali Khan, and displayed at National Press Club in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, May 4. People are still confused and suspicious about the killing of Bin Laden, which took place in their midst on Sunday night.

"There is no doubt that [bin Laden] is dead," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday. "Certainly there is no doubt among Al Qaeda members he is dead. We don't think a photograph in and of itself will make any difference."

Mr. Carney also said that the administration does not want to "spike the football" in celebration of bin Laden's death. "That is not who we are," he said, adding that it's important that very graphic images are not "floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool."

The decision indicates that alleviating the doubts of skeptics isn't as important to the Obama administration as concerns that the photos – which the White House describes as "gruesome" – could inflame Islamist radicals.

"What we don't want to do is to release anything that might be either misunderstood or that would cause other problems," President Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan said earlier this week, according to Reuters.

The Obama administration used facial recognition software and a DNA test to confirm that the body is bin Laden's.

"This news is only coming from one side, from Obama’s office, and American has not shown any evidence or proof to support this claim," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement emailed to journalists. "On the other side, our sources close to Osama bin Laden have not confirmed or denied the news."

"Until there is news from sources close to Osama bin Laden it will be too early to provide any reaction," the statement said.

"The government obviously has been talking about how best to do this, but I don't think there's – there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public. Obviously I've seen those photographs. We've analyzed them and there's no question that it's Bin Laden," he said. "But the bottom line is that, you know, we got Bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him."

Obama's decision seems to be at odds with the American public. A CNN poll released May 2 indicated that 56 percent of people said the government should release the photos. Thirty-nine percent said no.

On The Christian Science Monitor's Facebook page, several readers expressed their agreement with US officials. "Osama bin Laden is dead, and until there is a substantial/credible questioning then there is no need to release an image. DNA and face verification are enough and if it not, doubters will say the image is a fake anyway," said Damon Kennedy.

In 2003, the US announced that two sons of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein were killed in a firefight. Amid doubts throughout the Arab world, the US opted to release posthumous pictures of the two men, but only after the bodies had been cleaned up by a mortician, CNN reported. That's not an option in this case because of the rapidity with which bin Laden's body was slipped into the sea.

"There will be skeptics out there as you know whether in the Middle East (or elsewhere)," Mr. Powell said. "Even if you show the picture, there'll be skeptics. That's just the nature of the world. Because they'll say it was Photoshopped."

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